Painful shoulder joint. Advice needed.

[mommysboy]

For as long as I can remember I have intermittently suffered a painful shoulder after doing weights. Sometimes the soreness extends to my neck. My shoulder bone clicks a bit when I move my arm up and down. I am 54 but in good shape.

I think it is beyond physiotherapy. It stops me pushing weights I would otherwise be capable of pushing.

Can cortisone injections work. Or is there any other alternative?

[phetphet]

Could be anything, trapped nerve, bursitis, ac joint problems...anything. The shoulder joint is a very complicated joint. Best advice is go see a doctor.

[h90]

Did you try to stop all shoulder exercises for at least 3 weeks?

I had a similar issue, wasn't in my house for 2+ weeks, so I didn't push weights and when I came back it was almost good.

For me angled bench press and military press is somehow causing problems. If I avoid these two I don't get any problems.

[Sheryl]

Moved to health forum.

I second the advice to have a professional evaluate the shoulder and advise regarding your exercise regime. Doing the wrong thing --- or too much of the right thing -- can cause long lasting damage.

Dr. Mason at Bumrungrad is an excellent US trained specialist in sports medicine and shoulder injuries.

[mommysboy]

Sorry about posting in wrong section.

Yes incline bench and military press on same day as injury.

Getting better already. Can do pectoral flies. I will concentrate on squats for a couple more weeks

[h90]

Sorry about posting in wrong section.

Yes incline bench and military press on same day as injury.

Getting better already. Can do pectoral flies. I will concentrate on squats for a couple more weeks

military press is known to make problems. Incline makes problems for me, as more degree as more problem.

Both get better if I use dumbbells and even better if I rotate the hands 90 degree.

Actually I had no real problem, until once I put a weight on the barbell, not even a heavy one, just a 10kg. When I put it on the barbell it gave me strong pain in the right shoulder which hurt later every time on incline press and military.....

Not doing any shoulder exercise that even remote feels wrong for a couple of weeks might be better than doing some with pain. Concentrating on squats, biceps and cardio for 3 weeks might just fix it.

2 weeks worked for me.

I would not inject anything there.....you might escalate a minor problem to a big one.....

[mommysboy]

Sorry about posting in wrong section.

Yes incline bench and military press on same day as injury.

Getting better already. Can do pectoral flies. I will concentrate on squats for a couple more weeks

military press is known to make problems. Incline makes problems for me, as more degree as more problem.

Both get better if I use dumbbells and even better if I rotate the hands 90 degree.

Actually I had no real problem, until once I put a weight on the barbell, not even a heavy one, just a 10kg. When I put it on the barbell it gave me strong pain in the right shoulder which hurt later every time on incline press and military.....

Not doing any shoulder exercise that even remote feels wrong for a couple of weeks might be better than doing some with pain. Concentrating on squats, biceps and cardio for 3 weeks might just fix it.

2 weeks worked for me.

I would not inject anything there.....you might escalate a minor problem to a big one.....

Yes, avoidance is the key, I am not going to do the military press, or incline for a while if at all. Thanks I hadn't seen the connection, and without your posting might have repeated the same injury over again.

I take your point about injections.

[h90]

Sorry about posting in wrong section.

Yes incline bench and military press on same day as injury.

Getting better already. Can do pectoral flies. I will concentrate on squats for a couple more weeks

military press is known to make problems. Incline makes problems for me, as more degree as more problem.

Both get better if I use dumbbells and even better if I rotate the hands 90 degree.

Actually I had no real problem, until once I put a weight on the barbell, not even a heavy one, just a 10kg. When I put it on the barbell it gave me strong pain in the right shoulder which hurt later every time on incline press and military.....

Not doing any shoulder exercise that even remote feels wrong for a couple of weeks might be better than doing some with pain. Concentrating on squats, biceps and cardio for 3 weeks might just fix it.

2 weeks worked for me.

I would not inject anything there.....you might escalate a minor problem to a big one.....

Yes, avoidance is the key, I am not going to do the military press, or incline for a while if at all. Thanks I hadn't seen the connection, and without your posting might have repeated the same injury over again.

I take your point about injections.

I had: decline bench....nothing

flat bench....minor strange feeling

incline: hurt

more incline: strong hurt

military: hurt but the feeling that something is going very wrong

rotate the hand improved things

and strangely on side lifts and that, I don't know the name, where you pull up the weight in front of you I didn't feel any problems. Problem only exists when it goes higher than the head.

Some steroids....Winstrol for example increase the risk of shoulder problems a lot as they dry out the lubrication of both joints and tendons....

[mommysboy]

Moved to health forum.

I second the advice to have a professional evaluate the shoulder and advise regarding your exercise regime. Doing the wrong thing --- or too much of the right thing -- can cause long lasting damage.

Dr. Mason at Bumrungrad is an excellent US trained specialist in sports medicine and shoulder injuries.

Thanks Sheryl and Phetphet. It probably doesn't warrant a trip to the hospital yet. I can see that I was doing way too much and should not have tried to train through the pain.

[Sheryl]

Yes, always listen to your body,. And, I don't know your age but if getting up there, it is also necessary to accept that what you can safely do will have changed a bit. Avoid exercises that seem to bring on pain.

[maidee]

you need to strech more & do a good warmup & cool down

had same problems before

not anymore after correct method

[h90]

you need to strech more & do a good warmup & cool down

had same problems before

not anymore after correct method

Cool down isn't needed but a good warmup is for the shoulder very important.

[chubby]

1st thing, is RICE, rest ice etc

2nd : depending on your goals, and history, it's not worthwhile to get worked up, unless, your needing to push weights at age 54, I think you'd might need to retire that type of work.

if you have pain passively, its more likely not muscle / tendon tear, generally the bugga boo , is rotator cuff impingements and tears, though could be some nerve involvement, if your getting radiation into your needs/ traps..........

[Loptr]

If your shoulder clicks or feels like it is full of gravel when rotating through full motion, you may have bone spurs that are irritating the bursa... Pushing weights only makes it worse... I had the same problem many years ago and it finally got to the point where I had to have it fixed... I had out patient arthroscopic surgery to clean up the bone spurs and they also found and fixed a torn rotator cuff...

[mommysboy]

1st thing, is RICE, rest ice etc

2nd : depending on your goals, and history, it's not worthwhile to get worked up, unless, your needing to push weights at age 54, I think you'd might need to retire that type of work.

if you have pain passively, its more likely not muscle / tendon tear, generally the bugga boo , is rotator cuff impingements and tears, though could be some nerve involvement, if your getting radiation into your needs/ traps..........

This posting resonates.

The shame is my basic core strength has not diminished and I have been growing muscle at a size I never could previously, but I guess age is showing up in other ways and I will just have to adjust.

[h90]

1st thing, is RICE, rest ice etc

2nd : depending on your goals, and history, it's not worthwhile to get worked up, unless, your needing to push weights at age 54, I think you'd might need to retire that type of work.

if you have pain passively, its more likely not muscle / tendon tear, generally the bugga boo , is rotator cuff impingements and tears, though could be some nerve involvement, if your getting radiation into your needs/ traps..........

This posting resonates.

The shame is my basic core strength has not diminished and I have been growing muscle at a size I never could previously, but I guess age is showing up in other ways and I will just have to adjust.

be aware that muscles grow faster than the tendons and joints improve to handle the increased force....even more for us who are already on the halfway to the graveyard....

But if there is no real problem it will adjust, just need time. So don't accept it as "normal".

Have a look at him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauja_Singh

I hope to be able to break his world records, in 30 years I will begin to train for it

[chubby]

the thing about kenolog or "cortisone" etc, is while for the right problem , it can break the cycle of pain, and might be worthwhile once or twice, I believe it weakens tendons/ligaments, hence only safe to get 3 in a year.

if your not wanting to change the regimen and live with it, try an injection, see if arthroscopy is an option , or "just wait till it gets worse" , like they tell me with things they can't explain with my car......